Shadows in the Wind
by celestia193
Summary: AU to Roar of the Wind Dragon. Fairy Tail belongs to Hiro Mashima. Two transfer students from Sabertooth Academy arrive at Fairy High. One is overeager and flirty, the other called anti-social and creepy. When Sting hits on one of the most popular girls in school, pandemonium ensues. Fights, love, and mischief abound. And are seven dragon slayers too much for a single campus?
1. Seven Dragon Slayers

**I just felt like I had to do my own high school AU for Fairy Tail, based of course off the main Fairy Tail fic that I'm already writing. I have, of course, adjusted the ages of certain characters, since there are some that I really just want to put in the same class. None of the age adjustments are too dramatic, though, so it's not like Romeo and Wendy are in the high school classes with the rest of them.**

 **It all begins with an unlikely case of transfer students. Oh, and I'm going to warn you now, but there's going to be innuendo and misunderstandings all over the place. Because that's what high school is all about, right? (Okay, honestly high school is hell on earth, but no one really cares about that part, right?)**

 **Oh, and this is only partly an AU. Everyone's magic is pretty much intact. Dragon Slayers included. This is an 11th grade class, so everyone is 16-17. Which of course means that some of the interactions are going to be rather juvenile.**

 **Because...magic teenagers in a magic high school.**

* * *

 _How did I let him talk me into this…?_ That's about all I can think right now. Somehow, my best friend Sting managed to somehow convince me that this was a good idea. And this can't possibly be a good idea. My teachers always call me anti-social, so I doubt that switching schools is going to help at all. Of course, it doesn't help that Sting is always showing off his dragon slayer magic. _Seriously…if it weren't for the fact that I can keep a lid on him, he probably would have blown up Sabertooth Academy by now._

The dark haired teacher turns to the two of us, Gryder, I think his name is. "Alright, would you two please introduce yourselves now?"

"Alright!" The blond idiot is a little too excited about this. "My name is Sting Eucliffe! I'm a transfer from Sabertooth Academy, and I'm happy to be here! Let's have some fun!" He elbows me, hard. "Come on, say something!"

I do not share his exuberance in the slightest. "Rogue Cheney…" _Hopefully that'll be enough to satisfy them._

I get stares from all across the room, including from Sting. "Come on…that's all you've got? You know, this is exactly why all of our old teachers called you anti-social. You never say more than two words to most people!" He wraps an arm around my neck and drags my head down. "Alright, this is Rogue, he's a nicer guy than he seems, I promise. He just takes a while to open up to others."

"Thank you…now can you let go of me?" I don't mean it to come out as a growl, but with my voice still cracking at times, that's kind of how it goes. Sting always teases me about being late to hit puberty, and uses that as an excuse for me not taking an interest in all the girls he parades around in front of me.

Sting backs off a bit, but keeps a grin on his face. "Oh, and I almost forgot. We haven't told you guys what our magic specialties are!"

I groan quietly. _Seriously…you're going to tell them right off the bat? Are you trying to get them to hate us?_ The typical reactions to our magic are either hero-worship, or running away in fear. And I don't think it'll be any different here. Either way, we're going to end up with a lot more attention than I'm comfortable with.

But Sting is completely undaunted. "Back at Sabertooth Academy, we were called the Twin Dragons. The White and Shadow Dragon Slayers." Yeah, a name that he twisted up because of an incident from when we were younger. He doesn't talk about the details much, only about how impressed he was with the two dragon slayers who saved his life.

Surprisingly, instead of the usual uproar, all we get are a few interested glances from around the classroom. The teacher, on the other hand, seems less than pleased. "More of you…? Jeez…we've already got enough trouble with the ones we've got. Speaking of which…" He glances towards the door. "Those two are late again!" He turns to the windows, and seems to notice something. "Lucy, would you open the window? Looks like they've decided to join us."

A blond girl stands up and unlatches the window. "You know, we should just keep one open all the time, that way we wouldn't have to open it every single day." A gust of wind blows in through the window, upsetting the papers on all the desks. "Ah! Not again!"

A pink-haired guy comes flying in through the window, only to hit the opposite wall and slide to the floor. "Ow! Ciara! Damn it, that hurt! What happened to the love?" He rubs his head hard, his dark eyes expressing a first thing in the morning grogginess. I can understand that, I'm not much of a morning person myself.

"It's your own fault for sleeping in…" And as light as a feather, a girl with identical pink hair flowing down to her waist, appears on the windowsill. She turns to the teacher with a wry smile, her silvery eyes sparkling. "Sorry Mr. Gryder. I spent an hour trying to get him out of bed this morning. And Igneel was no help at all, like usual. I swear, he's just like his father."

 _Igneel?_ The name sounds vaguely familiar to me, though I can't quite place it. All I know right now is that the guy seems like an idiot who can't get to school on time, and his matching girlfriend is by far the more responsible one, though a little violent. _Is he some kind of masochist?_

Mr. Gryder sighs, meaning that this obviously isn't the first time he's had to deal with these two being late. "Alright, just pick up everything you spilled, and make sure that you two aren't late for your next class."

"Of course." She hops down from the windowsill, landing as lightly as a breeze. And with a wave of her slender hand, all of the papers on the floor rise into the air and start swirling around her. "Okay, this one is Gray's, and this one is Erza's… This one looks like Levy's, beautiful handwriting as always. And speaking of beautiful handwriting, this is Lucy's. The crappy handwriting has got to be…" She frowns for a minute, her nose crinkling a little. "Uh…Levy…did Gajeel try to write you poetry?"

The tiny blue-haired girl squeals. "No! Don't look at that!" She grabs at the paper in front of pinky's face and crumples it. "No one is supposed to see that!"

"Sure…just tell him to work on his handwriting, it sucks." She sends all of the papers flying, settling them back on the right desks. Then she turns towards me and Sting. "Oh, transfers?"

Sting grins immediately. "Yeah, we're transfers from Sabertooth Academy. Name's Sting Eucliffe. Nice to meet you!"

The girl smiles guiltily. "Well then, Sting, I'm sorry that I interrupted the introductions. If Natsu weren't such a heavy sleeper, it would be easier to get the fool out of bed in the morning." Her smile just seems to light the room right up as she laughs a bit. "Anyway, since you're new, I guess I should warn you. Natsu is a bit of a head-case, so if he challenges you to a fight, don't take him seriously. We don't need another brawl going down."

As soon as he hears that, Sting starts getting excited. So I grab the collar of his shirt and yank him backwards. "Know this, if you start picking fights, I'm not coming to your rescue, got it? I'm done with covering your ass."

"Aw…that's no fun." Sting pouts a bit, and grins at the girl again. "So, what's your name, sweetheart?" He has a pretty one track mind most of the time. He's either looking for a fight, or for a pretty girl to hang all over.

"Sting…don't go hitting on girls you just met…" I back away slightly, not eager to get into another fight because of Sting's flirting habits. My voice is barely a whisper, since I really don't feel like pissing anyone off this early in the morning. Only Sting should be able to hear me. "Especially if they're showing up with a guy."

"It'll be fine!" He just grins and walks up to the girl. "So? Why don't you introduce yourself?"

Her mouth twitches a little, and already I sense danger. "You want to know my name, huh?"

"Dude! Run!" Her pink-haired boyfriend finally picks himself up off the floor. "Listen to your friend! She hates flirty guys!" _He shouldn't have been able to hear me!_

Her smile becomes something just slightly terrifying. "My name is Ciara Dragneel. And as that guy, who happens to be my big brother, has pointed out, I hate flirty guys. So keep it up, and I'll put you in the ground. Got it?" She gives Sting a sniff and smirks. "Mr. Dragon Slayer." _She just delivered a death threat with a smile in the middle of a full classroom. And no one is saying a thing about it. This is not a woman to mess with…_

I quickly process all this new information. _They're siblings?_ I look from one to the other, and now it seems obvious. _Twins…they've got to be twins. And by the smell of it…_ I sniff the air hesitantly, and it's there, the distinct smell of a dragon. And it's not Weisslogia or Skiadrum. This is a whole different dragon's scent. _Dragon slayers… She's a wind element…but the guy smells more like…fire? Twin dragon slayers wielding two different elements? That's weird…_

The girl, Ciara, glances at me, her nose twitching a little. "Huh, two of you? That's a surprise. That makes…what, six of us here? Seven, if you include Wendy down in the middle school division. What are your specialties?"

Sting puffs out his chest proudly. "I'm the White Dragon Slayer. And my friend is the Shadow Dragon Slayer. Cool, huh?"

"White Dragon Slayer, huh?" She looks rather unimpressed. "Well, it suits your blond hair. I just hope that there's more in your head than pick-up lines. Otherwise you'll never make S-Class here."

Sting looks a little put out, but he's not going to give up just because of that. "Aw…don't be like that…why don't you and I get to-"

"Would the four of you take your seats!?" Mr. Gryder finally gets our attention again, looking very frustrated. "I've humored you this long because of the uniqueness of the situation. It won't happen again! Pick it back up at lunchtime."

"Yes sir…" I look around for a seat, and I spot one near the back, next to a quiet dark-haired guy. _Good, now I won't have to talk to idiots._ Ciara sits herself next to the windows, in the seat just behind the girl called Lucy. Her brother, Natsu, sits himself up near the front, and lounges lazily in his chair. Sting takes the empty seat next to him, which worries me a little, since Sting might use this as an opportunity to start something.

As I sit down, the guy next to me smirks. "You should tell your friend that Ciara is way out of his league. At the rate he's going, he's going to end up in the hospital. That's where her last three boyfriends ended up when they tried something on her. Turns out that she's harder to get into bed than her brother is to get out of one."

It's a bit more information than I needed, but now I'm struggling to contain my curiosity. "And how do you know that?"

The guy grimaces. "Because I was number two. It was last year. And I'm still recovering from the beating I got."

"Did her brother beat you up?" Now some of the dynamic here is starting to make sense, if she's as popular as he claims, and her brother is as protective as one should be. And it's also a good idea to get a sense of the hierarchy here. Preferably before Sting does something stupid and I have to pull him out of trouble.

But he shakes his head. "Nah, Natsu and I tussle all the time, and it never goes that far. She doesn't need her brother to fight her battles for her, she can take a guy out all by herself. Actually, make that several guys, she's scary when she gets mad."

"I see…" _I should have assumed that…she may be a girl, but she's a dragon slayer. That makes her a lot more dangerous than she looks. Supposedly, females are even more vicious than the males…_ "I'll be sure to warn Sting about it. But don't blame me if he does something stupid anyway."

"Right…" He smirks at me a bit. "I'm Gray Fullbuster, Ice Mage."

I nod. I've already been introduced, so there's no point in going over it all again. "So what's this S-Class thing that got mentioned?"

Gray leans back, grinning. "It's like a ranking system. S-Class means that your grades and power are top class. The S-Class students are picked by the principal, and they get all sorts of special privileges. There's only a handful of them in the school, and they're all really popular. Actually, we've got a couple of them in our class."

"Really?" I look around, trying to figure out which ones are most likely to be S-Class. The red-head has an air around her that makes me wonder. "Is the red-head one of them?"

Gray nods. "Yeah, That's Erza 'Titania' Scarlet. She made S-Class at the end of last year. She's super strong, and super scary. She's another one that you might want to warn your friend not to hit on. That would probably end in blood."

"That would be bad…" I look around the classroom again. "What about the other one? Who is the other S-Class student?"

"Haven't you guessed?" Gray's grin turns into a smirk. "None other than Ciara 'Dragon Wing' Dragneel. She made S-Class during our last year of middle school, about two and a half years back. So like I said, she's way out of your friend's league."

I turn to look at the girl with the flowing pink hair and bright silver eyes staring absently out the window. _Ciara Dragneel…huh? She's attractive enough to be popular even without the rank._

A laugh echoes beside me. "Don't bother, she's out of your league too." My eyes drift back to Gray, who is leaning back so far in his chair that he looks like he's about to fall over. "Besides, she's a dangerous catch. Not only would you have to deal with her temper, but her brother's and her father's as well. And I've met her father, he's a seriously scary guy when he gets mad. Though apart from that, he's exactly like Natsu. Me and him could probably be S-Class if we wanted, except that our grades suck. We've got the magic for it, but the tests here ask the stupidest crap. Gramps gets on our case all the time for going overboard and wrecking the yard, so take my advice and rein your friend in before he decides that taking on Natsu is a good idea. I don't think that the arena can handle another Dragon Slayer battle."

"Duly noted…" That knowledge certainly puts me on my guard. Sting is more than likely to pick a fight the first chance he gets, and usually with disastrous results. Now, I just have to make sure that Sting doesn't doom us both.

"And one more thing…" Gray leans towards me cautiously, his voice low. "Dragon Slayers get a lot of hero-worship here, and a lot of battle challenges. So don't be surprised if the girls approach you and start begging for dates, and the guys might show up just to try and kick your ass for bragging rights. Wendy is too small and cute for anyone to challenge, but she gets a ton of attention for being adorable. And Ciara…well, she turns down every guy who asks her out, with the exceptions of me, Gajeel, and Laxus. And last I checked, she and Gajeel broke up about three months ago. She dated Laxus a couple of years back, before he went on to the college section."

Gajeel is a name that I recognize. Before I went to Sabertooth Academy, I'd gone to the Phantom Lord Institute. There was an incident about four years back that forced the school to close. But before it closed, Gajeel was one of the school's most famous students. His magic was unmatched, and I looked up to him for it. This school must be where he ended up afterward.

"So…why does she turn them down? And what does she do to them when she does?" I keep my voice low, since Gryder is going on with his lecture. This is something that I should probably know in case Sting tries to hit on her again. If I'm going to be hauling him to the infirmary, then I'd like to know ahead of time so that I can find the shortest way there from wherever he gets the crap beaten out of him. Because at the rate he's going, he might end up in there before the end of the day.

Gray smirks. "Good question. She turns down anyone that she sees as not strong enough to hold their own with her, if she thinks they've got a shot, she'll fight them to find out. When I asked her out, she attacked me immediately. It took me ten minutes to finally get her on the ground. Had to turn the whole yard to ice to do it. And then, she still ended up throwing me off. Apparently that was enough to convince her to give me a shot. Laxus didn't need to do anything, since she was a lot younger and a little less demanding then. And Gajeel…well their fight left iron poles all over the place, and didn't actually end until Gramps made them stop. All I caught at the end of the fight was something about strong mates."

I nod slightly. "It's a dragon thing. They like their mates strong. Looks like the same thing goes for us. Sting never did like the boring girls." Though abiding by that statement, it means that Gray must be fairly powerful, if a dragon slayer would date him. Especially one who seems this choosy. Though judging by his earlier comment about getting her in bed, she's likely still looking for a strong enough mate. Most other mages just aren't durable enough, as many of Sting's old girlfriends found out to their dismay.

There are seven dragon slayers prowling this enormous campus. And four of them are in this classroom. My worries about transferring here just turned into full-blown fear.


	2. Lunch Mates

**Okay, so last time, we saw the situation from Rogue's point of view. Now, it's time for the flirt to get some screen time.**

 **And yes, I'm making Sting a total flirt, because honestly, does that guy exude the air of an innocent little kid or a puffed up playboy?**

 **I'm going with…option two.**

 **Anyway, tonight, I'll be going to a blush-fest. Erotica Night of the writers' festival. I won't be reading, but I'm sure that I'll be able to pick up some tips from the people reading there.**

 **Because…what's Fary Tail without some good smut? Eventually…you know, once I actually get the courage up to write some. And then to post it. It's way more nerve-wracking to think about than it should be.**

 **So, tonight is all about experience. Literary, not practical.**

* * *

Sting's P.O.V.

 _I already love this school. The dragon slayers I'd heard about, they're actually in my class. This is the best first day ever! Now my only challenge is to figure out how to get Ciara Dragneel to date me. Because damn is she a hottie! And even better, she's a powerful, dragon slayer hottie! This couldn't possibly get any better!_

It takes everything I have not to skip down the hallways to lunch. I do have an image to uphold, and it'll get me nowhere to go running around, acting like a giddy schoolgirl. I'm supposed to be cool, confident, and the sexiest thing these ladies have ever seen.

But knowing that doesn't put out any of the fireworks going off in my brain. She was a wonderful distraction to focus on during class. She may not have that hourglass figure that some men would die for, but her gentle curves definitely suit her. And her clothes can only do so much to hide the soft curves of the muscles that line her body. So much better to focus on for an hour.

After a boring lecture from Mr. Gryder, we got a teacher called Macao Conbolt, whose son is in the middle school division here. It was over an hour of listening to him talk about myths and legends surrounding the origin of magic, as well as a look into the history of it. And honestly, the class made me want to skip through lunch to get to the afternoon combat classes.

But first, lunch.

I head to the cafeteria, Rogue shadowing me quietly. I was surprised to hear him talking to one of our classmates earlier, before they started talking too quietly for me to hear. It must have been because that ex-boyfriend of Dragneel's knows about how sensitive Dragon Slayer hearing can be.

And because Rogue had no idea what to expect from this school's cafeteria, we've got our own lunches today, customized to perfection for hungry dragon slayers. He didn't want to risk there being nothing decent on the menu. So, all that leaves is to find a place to sit down. And there are so many options just waiting for us to grace them with our presence.

I head towards my first choice immediately, which will involve less gracing, and more ogling on my part. "Natsu!" I raise my hand up towards my idol, grabbing his attention away from the mountain of food on his plate. "Can we sit with you?"

He nods, gulping down his food with the appetite of a wild animal. "Sure!"

Encouraged, I smile brightly and sit down opposite him at the table. And after a moment of hesitation, Rogue sits down as well. He's been quiet so far, and that's not going to change unless I can get a good conversation going with Natsu. And even then, it's not a sure thing. "So, do you usually eat alone?" It strikes me as odd that he would be sitting by himself, considering how sociable he was during class.

He shoves more food into his mouth, swallowing it down as he shakes his head. "Just waitin' on my teammates."

"Teammates…?" And just as I look around to check out the rest of the table, two more people come to sit down. That Lucy chick from earlier, and Ciara Dragneel's ex-boyfriend, an ice mage, if I'd heard correctly.

The ex-boyfriend sits across from Rogue, raising an eyebrow. "So, joining our table, huh? Not sure if that's the safest move."

"Noted…" It's a surprise to hear something come out of Rogue's mouth so quickly. "Any reason why?"

The guy glances at Natsu, smirking. "Because he has a habit of turning the lunchroom into a battlefield."

"No kidding…" Lucy bangs her head on the table. "Last week, he caused an all-out food fight that ruined one of my best outfits. And that was before the brawl started…"

"Oh no…" Rogue cringes, edging away from me and Natsu. "I told you Sting…if you get yourself into any brawls, I'm not coming to your rescue."

"That's a wise decision." Dragneel's ex picks up his fork, waving it around a little. "But ultimately futile." His eyes drift to me. "Especially since you seem to have a death wish."

"I don't have a death wish." I force a smile, since I would rather get info from this guy before he tells me to go to hell for hitting on his old girlfriend. Besides, I need to figure out how to eliminate the competition.

The guy chuckles. "Yeah, I'd say that you definitely have a death wish. No one hits on Ciara like that and walks away without bruises."

Natsu shivers. "No kidding… If I have to watch her beat up another guy, I think I'll crawl under a rock and never come out."

"Gray, Natsu, she's not that bad." Lucy scolds them gently. "Besides, it's not like she asks for attention from all the guys in school. She doesn't even realize how pretty she is."

"Wait, what now?" That triggers more than a little confusion in me. "What do you mean she doesn't know how pretty she is?" That can't be possible, considering how hot she is. "She's gotta know. Why else would she do herself up like that?"

"Do herself up?" Natsu frowns at me. "What are you talkin' about?"

"No way…" If his question is implying what I think it is, then this just got a whole lot harder. "Doesn't she like…use make-up or something to make herself prettier?"

Natsu's eyes widen, then he shakes his head. "No way! She wouldn't get within a hundred miles of that stuff!" He takes a few bites of his food, barely swallowing before opening his mouth again. "Most mornings, she just rolls out of bed, showers for like seven minutes, puts her hair up, then makes the three of us breakfast, before kicking me and Dad out of bed!"

"Harsh…" But that's not what worries me. What worries me is that the girl puts in no effort to look the way she does, whereas it takes me like an hour to get my hair to stay put.

"Talking about me already? Natsu…I thought that you'd stopped being an insufferable gossip." All of my hair stands on end at the tone of voice of the one standing behind me. _How the hell did she sneak up on me!? I should have been able to smell her coming a mile away!_

Natsu smirks at the figure behind me. "Nice job, sis. Sting looks like he's going to wet himself."

"I do not!" Heat floods my cheeks as I try not to blush too badly when turning to face her. "And how did I not smell you coming?" I sniff the air a little. "I still can't. What the hell?"

She smirks at me, and I can already tell that she's silently calling me an idiot in every way she knows. "Little trick I figured out a while back, uses wind magic. Works on everyone but my brother." She tosses him a bag, and for a moment, I catch a whiff of her scent. "You forgot your dessert."

Natsu rips open the bag, and his mouth starts watering. "Cherry! Thanks sis, you're the best!" As he reaches his hand into the bag, I half expect him to pull out a bag of cherries, or some kind of pastry.

Instead, he pulls out a piece of wood. No joke. His sister brought him a wooden stick for dessert. Obviously, I'm missing a joke here.

I frown a bit at the sight, and Rogue raises an eyebrow. "What's that for?" _For getting you to talk, apparently. You haven't been interested in anything since we sat down._ But I just shake my head lightly, deciding not to comment. It's safer that way.

Natsu grins and pulls a small fire lacrima out of the bag. "Watch this." He spins the small crystal, and the thing glows briefly, before sparks fly off it, catching the piece of wood on fire. Then, before anyone can stop him, he takes a big bite out of the flickering flames, gulping it down like the rest of his lunch.

 _Right…dragon slayer._

"So, what clubs are you two planning on joining?" Lucy does her best to try and take the attention off the fire mage who is still scarfing down the flames like they're liquid sugar. I'm surprised he hasn't gone off on a sugar high, or fire high yet.

"Hm…got any suggestions, Blondie?" I grin at her, expecting her to blush a little. I usually have that effect on girls. Just flash them a smile, and they'll do or tell me whatever I want them to.

Plan, failed. Miserably. She glares at me and whacks me square on the head with her lunch tray. "Don't call me that! You're blond too!"

I rub my head, trying not to curse. "Hey, that hurt!"

"Yeah right. Seems like all you dragon slayers have hard heads." She sits back down, dropping her tray back on the table. "Anyway, since you two have…special magic, I would suggest that you join a sports club. We've got soccer, basketball, baseball, the classics. We've also got airball, which is exactly what it sounds like. And we've had more than a few accidents involving people hurling the balls through windows. And walls…"

Natsu finally ignores his flames long enough to look at us. "But you guys might like the martial arts clubs better. I suppose that the boxing team is alright, but Gajeel and I are in the mixed martial arts club. We've got a tournament coming up at the end of the year, and it'll be our third time taking the championship."

He's got a lot of confidence that they'll win again this year. Then again, I've seen some of their matches broadcast across Fiore. They're definitely not a couple of pushovers.

Which makes it sound like the perfect place for us. "Alright, we're in. Where do we sign up?" I glance over at Natsu's sister. _Perfect time to impress her. Once she gets a look at my skills, she'll be begging me for a date!_

Instead of being happy about my enthusiasm, she sighs. "I'll make a note of it and tell Erza later. We'll get you signed up." Her eyes move to Rogue. "Same goes for you? Or are you just getting dragged into this?"

Rogue shrugs slightly. "It's fine. Better than being bored." And I'm impressed that she actually got six words out of him. He usually ignores girls.

Nodding tiredly. "Alright. Practices are every day after school. They're optional, of course, but most people show up anyway since there's plenty of excitement around it. Know that official challenges take place in the club room, and any fights involving magic are to be kept outside in the arena." Her eyes flick to Natsu for a moment. "And if either of you want to fight my big brother, just take it straight outside. I don't want to have to explain to Gramps why the club building got wrecked again." _Gramps? Who the hell is Gramps?_

Natsu blushes as pink as his hair, the last of the flames flickering out of existence. "Yeah…sorry about last time. I swear, I wasn't trying to blow the roof off the club room."

Knowing Rogue as well as I do, I can almost see the sweatdrop rolling down his head. _Natsu blew the roof off the club room? How?_

"Fine…" Ciara turns around, striding away from the table and out of the cafeteria.

Once she's well out of sight, Rogue turns to me with a look of exasperation plastered all over his pale face. "What have you dragged me into this time, Sting…?"

The most fun he's ever had in his life, probably. Sadly...


	3. Children of Dragons

**And now, we will finally be getting to Ciara's P.O.V. It may have been a bit strange to start the P.O.V.s with Rogue, then Sting, but now we're coming full circle, and everything should fall neatly into place. The P.O.V.s will continue to switch, as usual, so that you can all get a good 360 degree view of events. But I'm sure that you can tell which ones the main focus will be on.**

 **As an added treat, the dragon parents of the dragon slayers are alive and well in this A.U. Though that's mostly for setting, as well as for comedic effect. Oh, and I'm also planning a little something funny for next chapter. Apart from Sting getting his ass handed to him.**

* * *

Ciara's P.O.V.

I love the club room. It's the biggest of all the club rooms, even bigger than the one for Erza's swordplay club. We have four fight rings, plus enough space for punching bags, targets, and other dummies all along the walls. We even have some special magical training dummies. And when I say special, I mean that they can hit you right back.

It took a while to convince the old man to let me, Levy, and Lucy put them together for the club room. The dummies also doubled as our project for our Magical Mechanics class last year, an elective that the three of us took because we were bored. Of course, for our genius little piece of magical engineering, not only did the three of us get top marks for the class, but we also got an award for magical achievement in enchanting from the Magic Council.

The best part about our slightly wayward experiments, apart from the fact that we managed to avoid blowing anything up, was that we took copious notes every step of the way. And while some of the effects of our spells were unintended, we were able to replicate them on several more dummies, resulting in the half dozen magical fighting dummies that Gramps let us stash in my clubroom.

As I lie on the floor in the middle of the clubroom, my eyes closed, I take in the faint smell of burning cedar. Natsu and I are here every day, and since there are now spells on the walls of the clubroom that repel attacks, the burning smell comes from the wooden targets that I set up every day for Natsu to shoot down. It's a smell that reminds me that no matter how much the two of us argue or fight, that when we work together, nothing is impossible.

I take another deep breath, and the scent of fire and food wafts toward me. It's a scent that I know quite well. So I push myself into a sitting position and open my eyes, turning my head towards the open door of the clubroom. Moments later, a head of unmistakable pink hair pokes around the frame.

A grin spreads across Natsu's face. "I knew I'd find you here!" He skips inside as giddily as a little kid. "So, did you check things over with Erza?" There's a hint of wariness in his voice, as though he expects Erza to jump out of the word-work and wail on him. Not an unfounded fear, by the way. He does plenty of stupid things that piss off my red-headed friend.

"Yeah" I nod slightly as I roll backwards and onto my feet. "After I headed back to the lounge for lunch, I ran it by her. She's cool with it, so you can tell your new friends that they're welcome to come whenever they feel like it." Then I narrow my eyes at him. "But if they want to have an all out fight, any and all dragon slayers involved have to take it outside." There may be protective spells on the walls, but I have little confidence that they could stand up to an all out fight between dragon slayers. After all, those protective spells were put in place by Levy and Freed after the last time that Natsu blew the roof sky high.

Natsu's grin widens, and he turns to the door. "Hey Sting! Rogue! You guys hear that!? You're in!"

"Hell yeah, we did!" The blond one, Sting, comes into view first. "This is gonna be so awesome! A club where I don't get in trouble for fighting in!"

I sweatdrop a little. _Great…a second Natsu. And even better, this one likes to flirt…_ My eyes travel to the other one, the one with the shaggy ebony hair. _That's Rogue, then. Seems quiet. Well, quieter than his friend at least._

Sting grins at me from behind Natsu, his blond hair bouncing in excitement. "Hey there, cutie! You manage this place, right? Think you could show me the ropes?"

 _Manage this place? I suppose that's one way of putting it…_ I raise an eyebrow at him, then glance over to his friend. "I suppose I could do that. Just try not to end up in the infirmary on your first day."

Sting grins cockily, and dare I say, a little seductively. "No worries. I can handle anything these guys can throw at me. I'll be the strongest member in no time!"

His assertion, while probably a vast overestimation of his own skills, intrigues me a little. "So, you think that you can beat even our best members?"

"Yeah!" He laughs eagerly. "Pit me against anyone, I don't care who. I'll wipe the floor with them!" Self-confidence is clearly something that he has no shortage of.

"Anyone, huh? That's a rather bold claim." On the other hand, it might provide some rather amusing entertainment. "Then how about we wait until some of the others get here, then we can head outside so that you can get a good fight in."

The fool has no idea what he's in for, but his friend might, seeing as he's frowning at me suspiciously. Sting is clearly a special kind of idiot, much like my brother. Rogue, on the other hand, looks like his total opposite. Calm, composed, and not prone to outward displays of anger or excitement.

He glances over at Sting. "Are you really picking a fight on the first day?" From the sounds of it, like Natsu, Sting is overly fond of picking fights in order to prove his strength.

Sting turns to look at him, brushing off the concern. "Rogue, it's fine. That's the whole point of this club, isn't it? We can pick fights, and it's all for fun." Then he turns to me. "Unless, you'd like to make a little bet on it."

 _Ha, like this idiot could win a bet against me._ Natsu's eyes have gone wide, and he's slowly backing away from Sting, obviously understanding that the blond is digging his own grave. "Interesting, but it depends on your terms. After all, I do have certain lines that I don't cross."

Again, Sting acts like I've barely said a word, his mind on a single, immutable track. "How about this. You can pick anyone from the club, and I'll fight them. You can even pick Rogue if you want. If I lose, I'll do whatever you want for a whole week. But if I win…" His grin curves right into a smirk. "You go on a date with me tomorrow."

"Whoa, what did we miss?" I look over at the door and see that Gray and Gajeel have decided to show up today, and Gray is grinning nervously. "Did you seriously just ask her out?"

"Gihi." Gajeel chuckles slightly, as though remembering our own match. "This should be fun to watch."

Gray points back out the door. "You want me to go round up everyone else? Erza's club will probably want to see this."

"Sure." I smile brightly at Gray. "And I'll make sure to set up one of our club's best competitors for Sting. So tell them that it's going to be a very interesting match. While you do that, I'll give these two the tour."

"Gotcha." Gray nods and disappears from the doorway, dragging Gajeel along with him.

I turn to the two new members and gesture around the room. "As you can see, we have four fighting rings in here. Each one of them is reinforced with magic, that way, wayward magic power from the practice sessions can't spill out into the rest of the room. Some magic combinations can be rather volatile, so it's better to be safe than sorry."

"Fair enough…" Rogue touches the boundary of one of the rings, as though examining the strength of the enchantments. "How powerful are they?"

Since I think I know where he's going with this, I smile at him. "Dragon Slayers need to take it straight outside. The enchantments are capable of containing Dragon Slayer Magic, but just barely. And I would rather not risk breaking them just to test their limits." I point next to the open space along the wall. "That's where we have target practice. Natsu likes that part, which is why you can smell burnt wood over there."

Natsu pouts. "Hey, at least I've gotten better. I'm not hitting the walls anymore."

"Or the roof." It's definitely a good thing that Natsu improved his aim, otherwise most of our budget would go towards repairs. "And then…there's these little toys." I point over to the magical dummies.

Sting raises an eyebrow. "Regular old practice dummies? What, are those for the middleschoolers?"

I chuckle a little, and Natsu sweatdrops. "For the kids? Yeah right. She brought a regular dummy home with Lucy and Levy, and the three of them went nuts casting all sorts of crazy spells on it. I mean, they definitely deserved the A they got for it. But having one of those things loose in the house was insane. It even creeped me while I was taking a bath!"

I sigh a little. "I already apologized for that, Natsu. You know that I hadn't perfected the programming yet. Besides, it's not like it got in the bath with you. It's a dummy meant for combat, not bathing." Thanks to Natsu, I've gotten rather off track with my explanation. So it's time to reel it back in. "Anyway, what they do is that when they're attacked, they attack back. It's a more practical approach for those two don't want to risk hurting anyone else with their magic. It was the Magical Mechanics project that Lucy, Levy and I did last year. We got top marks for it. Despite the slight setback of having Igneel accidentally crush it." I cringe a little at the memory. "Then we got an award and commendation on our magical experiments from the Magic Council. Which is weird, because they hate our school."

That seems to strike a chord with Rogue. "If they hate the school, how is it still running?" A question that many have asked, and many have gotten a slightly terrifying answer to.

Natsu's earlier expression brightens, and he grins at me. "Well, that'd probably be because of Dad. Those old guys are way too scared of him to try shutting down our school."

I laugh and nod in agreement. "Dad's been here forever. He claimed Magnolia as his territory a while back, so he protects the city and the surrounding area, and because of that, all the citizens like him. They've been bringing offerings into the forest since way before Fairy Tail established its guild, let alone its school. Whatever food they brought, he would eat, and whatever wasn't edible, he would just keep in a pile in his cave."

Natsu snickers. "Yeah, he totally acted like a dragon hoardin' treasure."

"No kidding…" I sweatdrop a little. "By the time he was brought an offering that he couldn't hoard or eat, he had a pile of treasure half the size of his body." Now that's an interesting memory. Faint, but still there. "That's the first thing I remember. A big red dragon and a pile of treasure."

"A red dragon…?" Rogue's eyes widen, as if he can't believe his ears. "There are other dragons still alive?"

Sting's brow furrows. "But I thought that Skiadrum and Weisslogia were the only ones left."

Those names sound very familiar to me. And I think I know why. "Uh…they wouldn't happen to be black and white dragons, would they?"

Sting and Rogue glance at each other, looking surprised. Then, Rogue nods. "Yes. They're our foster parents."

Natsu's eyes widen, and a jolt of surprise shoots through me as well as he points at them. "Wait, you two are real dragon slayers? Like us!?"

I had no idea that there were more dragon slayers like us out there, there have only been the four of us for a while now. This certainly changes things. "Well, looks like this got a whole lot more interesting." I turn away from them and gesture to the door. "Alright, Sting. Time to head outside and see what you're made of."

"Uh, yeah." He's much more subdued now, probably because of the shock. Though honestly, I think that we should probably all have expected this to happen. The fact that I didn't means that I've got to be a lot more observant.

And it means that the dragons I smelled on them are probably around here somewhere, instead of being either in the sky, or in the ground. There are very few dragons still alive, and somehow, it seems that they're all converging on Magnolia. At the very least, their children are. Because there are now six of us on this campus, not including Laxus. And that's definitely not going to end well.

As we walk out into the yard, it will soon be clear that things aren't going to end well for Sting either. There's a crowd gathered around the arena, as expected for one of our outdoor fights. And usually there's a huge betting pool, run by Cana, our senior year drunkard.

The rules at our school are pretty relaxed, so there's no dress code. But because the legal drinking age in the country is fifteen, Cana takes that combination to mean that she can show up to class drunk and in nothing but shorts and a bikini top. Somehow, she still manages to get decent grades, which is why none of the teachers chew her out for it.

And as expected, eager Cana is the first to spot us. "Hey, Ciara! Who's gonna fight the new guy!? I wanna get the betting pool started!"

"Funny story…" I chuckle irritably as we approach the arena. "Sting proposed a bet with me. He said that I could pit him against anyone in the club, and that if he lost, he'd do whatever I want for a week. If he wins, I have to go on a date with him tomorrow."

Cana's eyes widen, along with her grin. "Oh, did he now? In that case, I guess there's no need for a betting pool today. Want me to do the announcing instead?" She knows very well what happens when this kind of bet is made. Because I'm the type to take my destiny into my own hands.

"Sure." I shrug, then point to the other side of the arena. "Sting, you can go ahead and head over there. The match will begin as soon as you're ready."

"Alright!" He pumps his fist in the air eagerly, with no idea of the horror that is to come. "So who am I fighting? Natsu? Gajeel? Gray? It's someone strong, right!?"

"Oh, don't worry, I'm sure that your opponent will be strong enough for your liking. After all, it'd be a shame otherwise." I walk straight into the area and slide my jacket off, handing it to Cana, before turning back to face Sting.

Sting quirks an eyebrow at me. "And who is it?" His simple, innocent question nearly make me burst out laughing. Because this is going to be quite a riot.

"Your opponent is me."


	4. Shot Down

**Alright, so the funny idea I had is that because the dragons are alive and kicking, and because their kids are all hanging around on Igneel's turf, that as a result, they all live just outside of the city. There's honestly no room to be housing five dragons inside the city, so the east forest is just a much better place for them to be.**

 **So…the best way to make things even more awkward…is to stuff all six of them into the same house. Much more convenient for their dragon parents whenever they want to hang out with their dragon slayer foster kids.**

 **Plus, just think of all the unfortunate accidents that could happen!**

* * *

Rogue's P.O.V.

"Your opponent is me."

Sting freezes as he looks at her, disbelief obvious on his face. "Say what now?"

"You heard me." She puts her hands on her hips, further exposing her bare arms now that her jacket has been removed. "I'm the one you'll be fighting."

This is certainly a twist that Sting wasn't expecting. To me, it's not so surprising. After what Gray told me earlier, I suppose that I should have had enough sense to warn Sting that this could happen. That, or he should have had enough sense not to come on so strong to a girl who is clearly not interested in dating him. Unfortunately, the harder they are to get, the more Sting gets interested.

Sting laughs uncertainly. "You sure? I mean, I was expecting to fight Natsu, or someone I can go all out against."

"Well, you had better go all out against me, unless you really do what to end up in the infirmary on your first day." She cracks her knuckles, smirking knowingly at Sting. "You asked me if I manage the club, and I suppose that's true enough. But more than that, I'm one of the strongest members. I'd have expected you to figure that out, considering that I eat lunch in the S-Class lounge with Erza and Mira. You would be wise not to underestimate what that means."

All she's done so far is talk, but I get the feeling that her confidence is well-warranted. There's just something about the way she carries herself. Proud and confident, but calm and collected as well. She knows her own power, and she's not afraid to take on Sting, even though she hasn't seen his power yet.

If her attitude is a true indication of her skill and power, I can see why we're doing this outside. "Sting…be careful." I don't know why I'm bothering trying to warn him. It's not like he's going to listen to me.

Sting shrugs slightly. "Alright, if that's the way you want to play this, I can do that. Don't worry, though, I promise that I'll go easy on you."

"Inadvisable, considering that it's supposed to be the other way around." She pushes her left hand into her right, cracking all of the joints in her hand, before repeating the gesture with her right. "But if you want to go and underestimate me, then be my guest. I'll just have to show you firsthand that I didn't earn my S-Class rank the easy way."

Sting grins easily, lazily. He obviously doesn't really think that this is going to be much of a fight. He got very used to being at the top at our old school. But I'm worried that he might just be getting in over his head with this girl.

All of the spectators move to the outside of the arena, settling themselves safely behind the barricades. I join them, not particularly eager to get involved in this fight, even by accident. And personally, I would rather know exactly what we're getting ourselves into before testing my luck. Sting, on the other hand, has no such inhibitions.

The barriers start to hum, and light green magic shoots out of them, rising into the sky and covering the arena in a protective dome. _This must be for containing the magic. They must want to avoid there being any damage done to the buildings._ And it's something they're going to need, if the fact that there's two dragon slayers in there is anything to judge by.

Sting's relaxed grin stands in stark contrast to Ciara's wry smile and look of irritated determination. "So, wanna get started, sweetheart?"

"Whenever you're ready." She gestures to him. "Challenger gets the first move."

"Well, I was going to say ladies first, but if you insist…" Sting bends at the knees a little, his tell for when he's going to try and go for a fast knock-out. Usually, he likes playing with an opponent for a while, but he probably just wants to end this quickly because he thinks that he's going to hurt her otherwise.

As expected, Sting springs at her, almost faster than the eye can see. Speed is something that the two of us have trained hard to acquire. Mostly because I'm under the belief that sheer strength isn't the only way to win a fight. If the first attack hits, the battle can be over in an instant.

However, as Sting's glowing hand descends towards Ciara, it would appear that I'm not the only one who believes that speed is important. It's so fast that I barely catch it, even out of the corner of my eye. A split second before Sting's strike is due to connect, Ciara vanishes into thin air, leaving Sting to crash unceremoniously into the ground, dazed and bewildered by the lack of contact with a human body.

"What the…?" He pulls his hand out of the crack in the ground, shaking out the pain in his hand. "Where'd she…?" He spins around, his eyes flicking everywhere as he searches for her. "Don't tell me that I vaporized her!"

He sniffs the air worriedly, and my own nose guides my eyes upward. _You have got to be kidding me…_ At least now I know how and why she managed to come in through the window this morning. About twenty feet above our heads, Ciara is hanging in the air, surrounded by short, powerful gusts of wind that are keeping her afloat.

"Hm…you're a fast one." A slight smile curves her lips. "Unfortunately for you, speed is my specialty." Again, a fact that makes a lot of sense. I should have guessed that a user of wind magic would specialize in speed.

In a flash, she hits the ground, the springs towards Sting, sweeping his legs out from under him before he can blink. Fortunately for my numbskull of a partner, this is hardly the first time he's seen that move. And almost by instinct, he reaches his hands back, slamming them into the ground as he flips head over heels, avoiding the nearly inevitable crash that would have befallen him, had he employed less reliable reflexes.

In that instant, the look in Sting's eyes changes. This is no longer a fun game that he could end in one hit, this is a serious fight. It's clear that he's realized that if he doesn't take the opponent in front of him seriously, he's going to end up getting his ass kicked.

He shoots towards her again, faster this time, with a bright white light enveloping his hands and feet. He punches straight at her head, prompting her to block the strike and send it up above her head. He takes her moment of distraction to aim another punch at her hip, hoping to catch her off guard.

Instead, she rolls into the strike, letting it pass right over her waist as she turns her back to Sting, their bodies only inches apart. "Good moves. But, not good enough." She sweeps her right leg back, hooking it behind Sting's ankle. With a firm tug, she sets him off balance, and uses her own body weight to fall back into him, slamming her left hand into the ground as she elbows him in the gut, driving him deeper into the dirt before backing off again, letting Sting pick himself up out of the dirt.

The girl from earlier, Cana, I think her name was, nudges me in the side. "Your friend isn't too bright, is he?"

"That, he is not…" No matter what she's referring to, it's true that Sting can be very dense at times. And I often have to clean up his messes. "Mind telling me why, while your friend is beating mine to a pulp?" It surprised me a little when Ciara let Sting get back up, but if she's looking more for a thrilling fight, then it would be against her desires to let the fight end now.

Cana grins eagerly at me. "Well, this is a pretty common sight. In fact, I'm surprised that your friend has lasted this long. Most guys who end up fighting her go down in less than a minute. And it's already passed the one minute mark. Usually, we'd be betting on a match like this, but since Ciara doesn't lose, everyone stopped betting against her. This is how she goes about shooting down the persistent guys."

"I see…" A shiver goes down my spine at the news. It's easy to see that she's strong, but to think that she never loses is a whole other level of intimidating. "Should I be prepared to drag Sting to the infirmary?"

Cana frowns a little, humming as she tries to come up with an answer. "From the looks of it, I'd say she's going easy on him. But if they decide to start breaking out the big guns, I would definitely be prepared to at least have to drag him out of the arena."

"Noted…" I turn my eyes back on the fight, which has gotten increasingly violent as little spurts of magic power start to fly everywhere. I have to admit that I'm impressed with her skills. She's easily taking on Sting in hand to hand combat, and it's something that we've both been studying since we were kids. It's very rare that we ever find anyone able to keep up with us. But then again, I suppose that I should expect no less from a fellow dragon slayer.

Sweat drips down Sting's face, and his right hand glows brighter, while the light around all of his other limbs dims. Reaching forward, he produces a familiar strike. "White Dragon's Claw!" He swipes at Ciara, obviously trying to stop her from moving by marking her with a stigma.

It backfires badly. Not only does his attack fail to hit, but she knocks his hand up and out of the way, grabs onto his wrist, and yanks him close to her as she grins. "Wind Dragon's Shining Claws." She draws her hand back, wind swirling around it, before slamming her palm into Sting's stomach, sending him flying as the impact rips his arm from her grasp.

Sting hits one of the barricades and slides to the ground in a heap. That puts a huge grin on Cana's face. "Looks like she went for mercy this time. I remember her fight with Gajeel, and man did those two forget how to hold back." She taps the barrier, and it lowers, the light green magic flowing back into the stone blocks that line the arena.

Cheers start going up on all sides, and Natsu jumps over the barricades, heading straight for his sister. I, on the other hand, slide over the barricade in front of me and walk over to where Sting is collapsed on the ground. "You still conscious?"

He twitches a little, then starts groaning. "Ugh…I feel like I got hit by a train…"

A small smile curls the corner of my lips. _If he can make jokes like that, then he's going to be just fine._ My gaze wanders over to the other combatant, who is surrounded by people, though looks like she's trying to extricate herself. _If this was just a match for fun, I wonder how strong she would be in a real fight…_

It takes a few minutes, but the crowd starts to dissipate. Most of the students head back inside to pick up their things, or off to various club meetings, while some just make a beeline straight for the gates to freedom.

Eventually, only a few scattered people are left behind, including a few gossiping girls, insistent on pointing at me and Sting. From the sounds of it, they're finding it funny that Sting challenged one of the school idols, but I could swear that I heard them throw the words hot and cute around a few times.

Thankfully, this little disaster looks to be over. The only problem is that if I drag Sting through the school to the infirmary, we'll attract a whole lot of attention that I just don't want. The best thing to do would be to head home and tend to him there. The problem is, I have no idea where our new place is, since the two of us moved out of the Sabertooth dorms in order to come to this school. Our dads arranged something for us, and there was a note with an address on it delivered to the hotel we stayed at for the night, with directions on where to go after school.

While I'm stuck in my thoughts, a head of pink hair saunters over to me, and Natsu grins at me with a smile brighter than Sting's magic. "So, what are you two doing later? It'd be great to show you how the practice dummies work!"

I glance at my best friend and partner, who is sitting around, rubbing places that are surely going to bruise. "Well, Sting and I have to figure out where we're headed, so…" I pull a piece of paper out of my pocket, peering carefully at it. "I was hoping to find a map of the city and try to find out where our new place is. Skiadrum and Weisslogia arranged it…"

"Let me see that." Natsu snatches the piece of paper out of my hand and stares at it. A second later, his eyes widen comically. "No way…"

"What's wrong, Natsu?" Ciara peers over his shoulder, her own eyes focusing on the address before her. And like her brother, her eyes widen as well, though not nearly as much. "Well, that's a surprise. Though I guess that it probably shouldn't be."

"What are you talking about?" Bewilderment flashes through me as I take in their expressions. "Do you know where this is?"

"Yeah, we know that place well." She turns her head and yells over to Gajeel, who's been hanging around the area since the match started. "Hey! Get Wendy and take her home, will ya? Me and Natsu are gonna be escorting these two to their new place!"

Gajeel narrows his eyes suspiciously at her, before flicking them to me, a knowing grin growing on his face. "Yeah, sure. I'll take care of the kid."

"Thank you!" Ciara grins a little, before turning back to us, her eyes finding Sting sitting on the ground, still pouting. "Get up, Lightbulb, it's time to head home." _I wonder how long it took her to come up with that nickname…and how long it'll take Sting to get sick of it…_

Sting raises his head, his eyebrows furrowed as his eyes lock on her. "Home?"

"Yeah." She walks over to the side of the arena and picks up her pack. "I'd been wondering who was moving in when Natsu and I were unpacking. Guess now we know."

A shiver goes down my spine at her words. "Wait, unpacking?"

"Yeah." Her grin grows wider as her eyes bore holes through me. "I'm guessing that S.E. stands for Sting Eucliffe, and that R.C. stands for Rogue Cheney. The boxes arrived from your dorm late last night. Igneel told us that we were getting two new house mates, and to get everything unpacked and set up for you two." She kicks Natsu, who yelps and rubs his sore bottom. "That's why Natsu was so sleepy this morning. He and Gajeel were up really late sorting out Sting's room, because they kept getting distracted and started arguing over dumb shit."

"What!? You guys touched my stuff!?" Sting starts seething, but is quickly silenced by Ciara's glare. A glare that has probably silenced many an unruly tongue.

I swallow nervously. "I see…" She's thrown a whole lot of information at us at once, and it throws me off a little. Especially the part about them unpacking our stuff. Typically, I never let anyone touch my stuff, even Sting. "So…if Natsu and Gajeel were doing Sting's room…"

"Me and Wendy set up yours. That includes all of your books. We even had to get Gajeel to carry one of the bookshelves down from the storage room in the library." Ciara's grin turns into a smirk. "Though, imagine my surprise when I found a pair of black boxers with a little purple dragon on them. They were so cute…"

My face starts burning immediately. "You went through my underwear!?" She must have done it on purpose, just to embarrass me. This girl is turning out to be more and more like Sting every second. Only scarier.

She chuckles mischievously. "Wendy and I did unpack every single box in under two hours." She starts walking off towards the school gates, before stopping for a second. "Oh, and I'm guessing that the two new cats are yours? We left them at home to get acquainted with the others."

"Others?" Sting perks up a little, despite the embarrassment radiating off him. "What others?"

Natsu grins and jogs over to join his sister. "Come on, we'll show you when we get there!"

I glance at Sting, locking eyes with him for a moment. "I suppose we should go."

"Might as well." Sting shrugs, neither of us entirely sure what to expect this afternoon.

Ciara waves us over as she and Natsu get to the gate. "Come on! If we beat Wendy and Gajeel home, we get to pick what's on the menu tonight!" _Wait, Gajeel lives with them as well!?_

Sting bounces to his feet, the mere mention of food quickly getting his spirits up. "Alright! Let's go!"

It's finally time to go and check out our new home. And from the looks of it, we're going to be far from alone. Not with four other dragon slayers living with us in the same house.


	5. House Mates

**Sorry about not updating in a while. I spent the month of July working on my Naruto fic for Camp NaNoWriMo. And while I didn't get as much done for it as I would have liked, I definitely made a big dent in it, and thought up some great material for the future.**

 **Then, I got a horrible case of writer's block, and dealing with bureaucrats did not help inspire me in the slightest.**

 **Now, on with the awkward moving in! It's time for Sting and Rogue to finally sit down with their new "family". So I hope that this chapter makes up for the long silence. The next one is going to be even funnier, and I'm planning all sorts of mischief in the days to come.**

 **Sting and Rogue aren't gonna know what hit them.**

* * *

Ciara's P.O.V.

It's a bit of a trek to get out of the city and into the East Forest, but it's one that Natsu and I, along with Gajeel and Wendy, have to make every single day. On a good day, the four of us will race to school. And on a bad day, Natsu will sleep in, and Gajeel will go on ahead with Wendy, leaving me behind to drag Natsu to school. I always get stuck dealing with my brother because Gajeel says that 'it's too much of a hassle to drag Salamander out of bed'.

Leave it to Gajeel to nickname my brother for his habit of breathing fire.

But, with two new arrivals, maybe now, someone else can be in charge of getting Natsu to class on time. Because I sure don't want to get stuck doing it forever.

The blond idiot starts looking around, looking quite confused. "Where the hell are we?"

"What do you mean, where are we?" Natsu turns around and frowns at Sting. "This is the East Forest, duh!"

Sting sweatdrops. "Yeah…so what are we doing here?"

I sigh irritably. "We're taking you home, duh. Did you really expect us to live in town? Our parents would crush everything in sight, and the city already has enough repairs to contend with because of our school's slightly destructive tendencies." It's a sad fact to admit, but true. There's no need for our parents to add to the chaos that our school already causes. "But frankly, they're a ton better than human parents anyway, they never like being too far away from us so they've set themselves up in a few caves in the area."

"Caves?" The quiet one, Rogue, narrows his eyes. "Is that where we'll be staying?"

"Oh, sure!" He's so cute that I can't help myself, I just have to tease him. "We've even got nice fur beds waiting for you two. Skinned the animals last week!" I shake my head at their scandalized expressions as a laugh escapes my throat. "Jeez, what did you think we were? Cave people?"

Sting grumbles a little, his nose scrunching up between dark sapphire eyes. "It would explain that monstrous strength of yours…" And it looks like he's still sore about losing to me earlier.

I chuckle lightly. "Funny. Anyway, we're almost there." I can see the blue paint through the trees. "Whatever you're dreading, I promise that it's really not so bad. Though it took the four of us forever to finally agree on a temperature. I like it cooler, but Natsu likes things hot. Wendy is a bit delicate and can only take so much heat, and Gajeel likes it warm, just not so warm that he starts melting. So, we finally decided on a moderate temperature for the common areas, and each bedroom has its own climate control."

"Climate control…?" Rogue watches me carefully. "How does it work?"

I'm not usually one to stroke my own ego, but his question makes it so that I just can't help myself. "Well, you two already know that I took a Magical Mechanic class with Lucy and Levy, right? One of our other projects for that class was using Gray and Natsu's magic to make some temperature-altering lacrima. By changing the concentration of the fire and ice magic, we can alter the temperature in a single room. So we've got about thirty of them spread throughout the house." I gesture in front of us as we make it out of the trees. "It took a lot of lacrima to outfit the whole house, but there we go!"

"What the…" Sting's jaw drops and his eye go wide as he takes in the house. "You live in a mansion!?"

"Yeah! It's cool, isn't it!?" Natsu rushes towards the steps, eager to get inside. "Come on! It's even more awesome inside!"

I glance back at the two slightly flabbergasted boys. "Well? Aren't you going to follow him? He's going to show you two to your rooms while I get started on dinner. And somehow…" My eyes turn directly on Sting. "I get the feeling that it'll be nothing short of a disaster if I let you anywhere near the kitchen."

"Hey!" Sting's ears go a little pink. "I can cook!"

Rogue shakes his head. "If, by cook, you mean burning food to a crisp without even turning on anything, then yes, you can cook." From his tone, it sounds like Sting is about as much of a walking disaster zone as Natsu is in the kitchen. And I really don't want to relive the extra hot curry incident.

Sting growls, though there's also a hint of a whine in there. "Great, of all times for you to decide to get chatty, it has to be to nag me! Lay off!"

Rogue blinks silently, not rising to the challenge and giving Sting the satisfaction of getting under his skin. It's actually rather interesting to see the dynamic between the two of them. It reminds me a lot of how Natsu and I act around each other. Though I can already tell that I'm much chattier than Rogue is. Sting and Natsu, on the other hand, would be impossible to tell apart if I dyed Sting's hair pink.

 _Now that's an idea…_

But tormenting Sting will have to wait for later, because I've got food to get started. "Alright, so you two should go find Natsu. He could be on the other side of the house by now, but I'm sure that you'll find him if you use your noses."

I walk through the open door, kicking my shoes off in the porch and walking up the steps to the hallway that leads to the kitchen and dining room. This house was designed for ease of access, since we tend to be rushing in and out. It was also designed for privacy, which is why all of the rooms are soundproof, as well as thick and reinforced against impacts. That said, we've still had more than a few accidents here over the years. Even more once Gajeel and Wendy showed up a few years back. Luckily, all of our repairs have been relatively minor. Though with six of us here, that might no longer be the case.

As I step into the kitchen, I frown. _I wonder what those two like to eat…_ _Meat is almost a given, especially given what I've seen of their muscle structure._ Sting, especially, seems to have no qualms about showing off what's under his clothes. I'll also have to see about getting something for the two of them to eat. For me and Wendy, it's just a matter of going outside, and I'll just sit on the roof until a breeze passes by. Lightning a fire for Natsu, or tossing some iron over to Gajeel is easy enough as well. But Sting and Rogue might be a little more difficult than that. But for now, I just have to make enough regular food, so I start pulling ingredients out of the fridge, comparing them uncertainly.

A smooth, voice, a fair bit deeper than either Sting or Natsu's, emanates from behind me. "Sting will eat just about anything, just so you know."

I spin around quickly, to come face to face with Rogue, who steps out of the wall's shadow. Luckily, my response to being startled has dimmed over the years, otherwise he would have gotten a fist to the face. "Good to know. And nice move, sneaking up on me. It's going to be a lot easier in here, since you two will have your scents all over the place within a week." That's not to mention the fact that it looks like he can just melt into the shadows. I should have expected that from a Shadow Dragon Slayer. I'll have to keep an eye on that in the future.

His eyes sweep over the kitchen and focus on the fridge. "Do you need help?"

I raise a curious eyebrow. "Wait, you mean you can cook?"

A quiet sound that suspiciously resembles a chuckle rises from Rogue's throat. "Did you expect Sting to? I thought I made it clear that he can't cook for shit."

He's got a point. "Well…I guess. He seems a bit too much like Natsu, to be honest. I expect him to be the type that you want to keep out of the kitchen if at all possible. Natsu has caused more than enough disasters in here, I don't need a blond version of him in here making things worse."

"Exactly." Rogue peers past me into the fridge. "That's a lot of pasta sauce."

I hold back a snort of laughter. "Yeah…well, there's been the four of us to feed, plus our cats so we do a lot of big meals most days." I cast him a sideways glance. "Why, you like spaghetti?"

He nods. "I think that it's what Sting lives off of, other than pizza and macaroni and cheese."

Now that convinces me to raise an eyebrow. "Well, his flirting tactics may annoy the crap out of me, but his taste in food seems pretty good. Spaghetti it is." I grab the five liter jug of pasta sauce out of our massive fridge and plop it down on the counter. I glance up at the cupboard where we keep the pasta noodles, then at the door. "Hm…Gajeel isn't here yet?"

Rogue blinks at me, then follows where my eyes were staring. He opens up the cupboard door and his eyes widen a little. "Ah, the noodles are there…" He reaches for them, making me a little jealous that he's easily got three inches on me. More, if he's reaching for something, since his arms are a bit longer, and his hands are definitely bigger than mine are.

I sigh as he places a few packs of spaghetti noodles on the counter. "Yeah…there was an incident a couple of years ago, and I was having a hard time reaching some spices in one of the cupboards. I tried flying up there to get them down, and I ended up nearly destroying the kitchen, by accident. Gajeel threatened to put holes in my walls if I messed up the kitchen again, and he decided that he would grab anything that I can't reach. He won't even let me use a chair to get anything since I could fall over and end up using magic to stop myself from falling. Which brings us back to the first reason for Gajeel insisting that I not reach for anything with magic."

A strange expression blossoms on Rogue's face, like he wants to smirk, but is trying not to laugh, and also like his one visible eyebrow is trying to escape into his hair. But he doesn't say anything about my story of disaster, instead, turning towards the pasta. "Where are the pots?"

His ability to prioritize amuses me a little, so I roll my eyes and roll up my sleeves. "Here, I'll show you where everything is. Then, you can start taking cooking shifts with me, Wendy, and Gajeel. And under no circumstances are Sting and Natsu to make dinner. I don't want to see another incident that ends with a hole in the floor from acid curry."

"Acid curry?" His eyes follow me as I open the lower cupboards and pull out a pot as big as my torso, and then, another about twice that size.

I snicker a bit as I put the smaller pot of the stove, and the larger pot on the floor. "Yeah. He wanted to see if he could make curry that would replicate the taste of fire. But what he ended up doing was putting together an absolutely vile-smelling concoction that splashed onto the floor and burned a hole straight into the basement. That's what got him permanently banned from dinner duty. That, and the house smelled terrible for weeks afterward, even with me and Wendy trying to air this place out."

"Wow…" I can just see the sweatdrop rolling down the side of his face. "All it took for me to kick Sting out of the kitchen was when he nearly sent the oven up in smoke. I never gave him the chance to do something as terrifying as making acid curry." Despite the morbidness of the topic, it's nice to see him opening up so quickly. He seemed quiet at school, so I wondered if he just didn't like talking, or if he's just not comfortable in large groups of people. It would seem that it's the latter. Which means that I might just be able to prod him into keeping up decent conversation here at home.

Pointing to the smaller pot and the sauce, I smile. "Why don't you get that started, I'll work on the noodles." He nods quietly and turns his back to me as he focuses on opening up the jars of spicy red sauce.

Meanwhile, I go about filling up the larger of the two pots with water and open up a panel of the floor in the middle of the kitchen, exposing a small pit with a large metal coil. I pull out a small lightning lacrima and set it against the large metal coil. Moments later, the coil starts to glow a dim red, a bit like coals left over from a campfire. With that, I heft the heavy pot of water onto the coil and leave it to boil. _Thank you Laxus for charging that lacrima back up for me…_

The next few minutes pass in a comfortable silence as I walk around the kitchen, pulling out a large cutting board, a bowl that I could probably stuff Wendy into, and a bunch of ingredients from the fridge.

Not least of all, the ground meat. No matter how strange a dragon or dragon slayer's diet is, and we've all got some pretty strange diets, one thing we all seem to share is a great liking for meat. Hence the need for five pounds of ground meat, and an equal amount of breadcrumbs for the meatballs. I'm expecting each of the guys to be able to polish off at least two full plates of food. Wendy is the only one here with a semi-normal appetite. Though that doesn't stop her from sneaking out after dinner to gulp up some forest air for dessert.

"The sauce is ready for the vegetables." Rogue's voice floats over from the stove, surprisingly soft now. "Do you want me to cut them up?"

I turn around with a few vegetables in my arms. "No, it's fine. Do you think you could start mixing the meat and breadcrumb together? It'll be faster if I handle the veggies."

He nods and slides to the side, switching places with me easily. And though I don't go and look over my shoulder, I get the feeling that he's watching me. It seems like he does a lot of that. Watching, examining, evaluating, like he's weighing facts and making opinions. Opinions that he seems to be content to keep to himself for the most part.

The smell from the sauce pot is tantalizingly delicious, which means that it's definitely ready for the veggies. Wind swirls around me, lifting them out of my arms and into the air. Now, this much, Wendy can do easily. But it's what comes next that makes our magic different.

The swirls of wind sharpen suddenly, turning themselves into invisible blades. With a flick of my fingers, they move through the vegetables with impunity, chopping them all into tiny pieces. And once the wind is gone, all of the pieces fall neatly into the pot of spaghetti sauce.

As I turn around to check on Rogue and the meatballs, he raises an eyebrow at me. "I thought you weren't supposed to use magic in the kitchen."

My face flushes a little and I pout slightly. "No…I'm not supposed to use magic to reach for things, since the wind goes everywhere and knocks things over. Gajeel never said anything about not using it to chop up veggies."

"Right…" From the looks of it, he's rolling his eyes slightly. But from the ever so faint smile on his face, I get the idea that he's humoring me.

That just makes me pout more. "Hey, I can control my magic just fine. It's Gajeel who insists on being paranoid about something that happened way back then." But his silence doesn't really reassure me. "Promise you won't tell?"

A quiet noise, one that I could nearly mistake for a chuckle, worms its way from my fairly silent cooking partner. "Not a word."

* * *

Half an hour and many fried meatballs later, I back away from the stove and send out a slight pulse of magic, bringing all the cooking to a halt. "Done."

Rogue turns to me and nods slightly. "Should I dump the meatballs into the pot with the noodles?"

"Not yet." I reach for some oven mitts and grab hold of the pot with the sauce. "We add it all at once, then stir it all up. Once that's done, I'll call everyone in for supper."

"Alright." He grabs a huge plate of meatballs and balances it carefully over the pot of noodles, already strained and ready for the rest.

"One…two…" I raise the pot high above my head. "Three!"

All at once, the meatballs and sauce tumble into the large pot, nearly splashing out if it weren't for the noodle pot's high sides. It's almost impossible not to laugh, since a few drops of the sauce do manage to fly out of the pot, landing squarely on Rogue's nose.

I cover my mouth to hold in my laughter, and I turn to Rogue, who's gone cross-eyed to try and locate the drops visually. Shaking my head, I raise my hand away from my mouth and slide a finger over his nose, wiping away the drops of red sauce. "Best not to make the others think that we got into a food fight in here. There's no telling what Natsu would do if he jumped to that conclusion."

"Yeah…" Rogue blinks, a strange light in his visible eye. "I'll stir the noodles."

"Okay!" If he does that, then that leaves me free to summon the rest of the house.

Now, summoning the masses is not an easy task. It is not a particularly safe task either. So to spare Rogue as much of a headache as possible, I poke my head out of the kitchen and open my mouth wide, a single word coming out of my mouth.

"DINNER!"

That single word echoes down the hallway and out into the rest of the house. Now, all there's left to do is sit and wait. The rest should unfold all by itself.

I traipse back into the kitchen and Rogue glances at me curiously. "That's how you call them?"

His question puts a grin on my face. "Yep. Works like a charm every time. There's nothing better to depend on than a dragon slayer's appetite."

And my words prove to be true as two moderately heavy and very fast pairs of footsteps approach the kitchen. _That should be Natsu and Sting…_

Just like magic, a head of pink hair, and a head of blond hair race into the kitchen, grins plastered all over their faces. Natsu eyes the pot and grins. "I knew I smelled pasta!"

I back up a bit and tug Rogue away from the pot. "Yeah. Go ahead and help yourselves."

As I make sure that the two of us are well out of the way, Rogue bends over a little and whispers quietly in my ear. "Why did you pull me away?"

Amusement courses through me. "If you wanted to get trampled by my brother and your best friend, then you should have said so. If you still feel the urge, then go ahead, I won't stop you."

The two idiots serve themselves with a ravenous hunger, pulling out a couple of the biggest plates, and piling on the pasta like they've got bottomless pits for stomachs. Which I'm guessing that they basically do. I've seen Natsu eat enough food to feed our entire class, and then some.

Once the two of them are settled, two more pairs of footsteps, one much heavier than the other, approach the kitchen. And the first head to pop around the corner is Gajeel. "Well, I see that the kitchen isn't destroyed."

I roll my eyes. "That was one time, Gajeel. I haven't screwed up like that since. Now get yourself some food and sit down."

He shrugs and heads straight for the pot, leaving a new head to poke around the corner, with a mane of blue hair swinging behind her. "So we're having spaghetti tonight?"

I chuckle and smile. "Yeah, now, help yourself." Then I look around. "And where are the-"

"Cia!"

A mass of blue fur comes flying straight at my face, and I barely manage to catch it in time to stop it from slamming straight into my nose. And there's only one being who's that color and calls me by that nickname. "Hi Happy."

The little blue cat wriggles in my grip, his white wings fluttering behind him. "It's time for dinner, right!?"

More laughter bubbles up from my chest. "Aye, sir."

Happy giggles and flies out of my arms, heading straight for the pot, where Wendy is dishing up a bunch of small bowls for the cats, as well as one for herself.

One by one, the other four kitties trickle into the kitchen. Carla and Pantherlily both head straight for the pot, but the two new ones that I met this morning, Lector and Frosch, come up to the two of us and smile happily. Lector holds up a paw and his smile turns into an all-out grin. "Thanks for dinner, Miss Ciara!"

I crouch down and press my palm against his paw. "No problem. Now go get your bowl from Wendy and dig in. We'll join you in a bit."

"Yes, Ma'am!" He raises his paw in something of a salute, before floating off towards the pot.

Last, but not least, Frosch has managed to crawl his way into Rogue's arms. And the sight makes me smile. "Well, I suppose that there's no need to ask which of them belongs with you."

Frosch turns his head towards me, then reaches out with his little pink-clad paws. Rogue slowly loosens his grip on Frosch, and the little guy manages to slide himself into my arms. He's all soft and warm, and so very cuddly. I found that out when he showed up at the house with Lector after Pantherlily found them wandering around. For some odd reason, the two of them took a liking to me immediately.

"He likes you." Rogue's voice is barely more than a whisper. "He's shy, so it's amazing that he's gotten attached to you so quickly."

"What can I say? All the kittens seem to love me." I stroke Frosch's ears through the fabric of his pink frog onesie as he nuzzles his face against my collarbone. "Anyway, everyone else is dished up. We should split what's left."

Rogue nods and moves over to the pot. There's still a fair bit left, as expected. I made the amount on purpose, since I guessed that Sting would have the bigger appetite. And judging by how much Rogue puts on his own plate, my guess seems to be right.

Then, he dishes up a second plate, emptying the pot. He tilts his head towards the living room, where everyone else has planted their butts on the couches. And in an instant, it becomes obvious that he's trying to be a gentleman. It's amusing, to say the least, since I hardly live in a house with a bunch of well-mannered guys. I'm used to the mess and ruckus that come with living with a couple of idiots like Natsu and Gajeel. In fact, I would say that Wendy and Pantherlily are my only sources of sanity in this place.

But clearly, life is about to get a whole lot more interesting.


	6. Welcome to the Family

**Wow, Happy 2017, everyone. Sorry for being away so long. November and December were a lot more hecti than I thought they would be, and after the eight essays I wrote for my exams, plus the five other I handed in as final projects at the end of the semester, I had a lot of my plate. Then, I spent most of the Christmas break sleeping. Because I'm in university, and sleep deprivation is an unspoken requirement.**

 **This chapter isn't as long as I'd like it to be, but I hope that it's a nice little chapter full of amusement and some hilarity.**

* * *

Rogue's P.O.V.

After everything that happened yesterday, I thought that I was prepared for anything. I thought that there was nothing else that could possibly catch me off guard in this crazy place. The embarrassing stuff over with, and no surprises left.

I had no idea how utterly wrong I was.

I wake up as the smell of food wafts through the air, accompanied by a shrill whistle that feel like it's drilling into my brain. So, with a groan, I throw off my blankets and roll out of bed, landing unsteadily on my feet and wobbling a little as my balance reasserts itself. _What the hell is that noise? And where is it coming from?_

"Rogue!" A tiny figure comes bounding into my room through a door that is not supposed to be open. Because I'm pretty damn sure I locked it before I went to sleep. The last thing I need is one of the others breaking into my room while I'm asleep.

And by others, I mean Sting.

It's the pink onesie that tips me off as to the identity of the one who just waltzed in. "Frosch? What are you doing?" Not that I'm not happy to see my little buddy, it's just that I thought he would still be asleep, not awake before me. He's usually very shy around others, and doesn't want to be too far from me if he can help it.

Frosch's little green face has a huge smile on it, like he's so proud of himself. "Fro was helping the girls make breakfast!"

"Breakfast?" I sniff the air again. _I suppose that explains why it smells like someone paraded a breakfast buffet through the house._ I know well enough that my sense of smell is heightened, so chances are that I'm just smelling what's coming out of the kitchen, all the way across the house. _Well, might as well head down to the kitchen, then._

I strip out of my pajamas, pulling on jeans, and a black hoodie over a gray shirt. Sting always tells me that I should stop wearing hoodies, and let people see my face. He apparently thinks that the female population would prefer it. But each and every time he brings up the idea, I make sure to ignore him. He just doesn't get that I hate having lots of people staring at me. So it's better if I give them nothing to stare at. Plus, even if they do stare at me, the hood makes sure that I can't see it.

Following Frosch, I close the door behind me and wander out into the hall, heading straight for the kitchen. The smell of breakfast only grows stronger with every step, and it's mouthwatering. _How did I end up living with such good cooks?_ Especially since Sting can't cook at all, and I'm just passable, really.

But halfway down the hallway, the sound of pounding feet and a blur of pink races past me, nearly knocking me over as I press myself against the wall to avoid it. What the…? But as the blur skids to a stop outside of the kitchen, I see Natsu standing there, drool dripping from his mouth as he disappears into the kitchen. _Of course it's Natsu…what other pink blur would be racing around like a maniac?_

"Mornin' Rogue." Sting joins me in the hallway, yawning a little and rubbing his ears. "You have any idea what that whistle was?"

Just as I move to shake my head, Lector comes flying out of the kitchen. "That was just Miss Ciara calling everyone to breakfast." He brandishes a spatula, clearly showing off that he's been helping on the breakfast front too. _Though, if that was Ciara's way to call everyone to breakfast, then it looks like it was rather effective, because everyone appears to be here. Everyone except…_

"That means that you brats need to get a move on." Gajeel nearly cuffs me over the head as he walks down the hallway, Pantherlily floating along behind him. "When the grub's on, ya need to grab it quick, or Salamander'll inhale it all, twerp is a bottomless pit." He strolls right into the kitchen, leaving me a little bewildered. _Scratch that, everyone is here._

"Well, you comin'? Sting raises an eyebrow at me, then he disappears into the kitchen, following Lector.

With a sigh, I follow along behind them, stepping into the kitchen and into complete chaos. There's plates of food everywhere, along with half a dozen pots and pans in the sink. _That explains the smell of food wafting through the house…_ It looks like there's enough food here to feed an army. Or six dragon slayers. But truthfully, there's not much of a difference between the two, either in appetite or combat ability.

As Natsu races for the food, a large metal spatula comes right down on his face, leaving a huge red mark right in the middle of his forehead. "Natsu, how many times have I told you not to go for the food until I say so!?" Ciara turns around, eyeing her brother with disapproval. "Learn some patience, dammit!"

"But sis…" Natsu rubs his cheek and whines. "You're the one that whistled! Whistling means that the food's ready!"

Ciara growls at Natsu, the light guttural sound vibrating through her throat. "Natsu, you may be able to get away with it most days, but Sting and Rogue aren't used to this place yet. So you had better cool it, or I will shove this spatula so far up your-"

"A'right, that's enough outta you two!" Gajeel clamps his hands over both of their mouths, earning identical glares from the pink-haired twins. "Let's just get everyone dished up and fast, I've got a combat test this morning, and I'm not gonna be late because the two of ya can't get yer shit together."

Ciara's eyes narrow, but she backs away and turns back to the food. Natsu, on the other hand, rips Gajeel's hand off his mouth and grins excitedly. "Alright! So who're ya fightin'? Is it Jet an' Droy again!?"

Gajeel groans and grabs a plate for himself, ignoring Natsu's frantic questioning. Luckily for the two of them, Ciara doesn't brandish the spatula again when they go for the food. I take that to mean that Sting and I can safely get some food for ourselves without facing the wrath of the cook.

Five minutes later, I'm safely sitting on one of the couches in the living room, following suit with the others, since no one seems to want to use the dining room. And fortunately for my ears, Sting has taken his loud half conversation half argument with Natsu and Gajeel to one of the other couches leaving me next to Wendy.

Ciara finally walks in, with what looks like a plate of leftovers. Her eyes rake over the three idiots arguing over on the other couch and sighs. "Would you three just eat already? Gajeel's got a test, and I don't want to be late again. Especially since I have to make sure that our new arrivals don't get lost on the way to the campus."

I'd forgotten about that part. We're not exactly close to the campus, so it's probably going to be a sprint in order to get to school on time. _I wonder if she's got some shortcuts to show us. Sting might need them._ I'm fairly sure that I can get to the campus on time just by slipping into the shadows and booking it. Sting…not so much.

"Oh, and by the way…" Ciara's eyes slide to Gajeel. "Your handwriting sucks."

The older dragon slayer nearly chokes on his food as he shoots a glare at her. "'Scuse me? What was that, Pinky?"

"You heard me." She inhales a couple of pieces of toast in an instant. "I saw that poem that you wrote for Levy, your writing is almost unintelligible. And you need to check the dictionary again, because shooby-doo-bah is not a word." Then, she turns her eyes on Sting. "And don't think that I've forgotten about you."

Sting freezes in place, and it's rather satisfying to see that he's finally wary of her. "Uh, what?"

Ciara smirks slyly. "I won our little bet, which means that you have to do anything and everything I say for a whole week, right?" Her smirk grows wider, as do Sting's eyes. "But I'm not going to collect on that right now. I want you nice and settled in before I start having my fun. Though I'm sure that seeing you flail around would be amusing, I want to make the most out of this bet."

Sting swallows the last of his food, his face turning pale. "Uh…yes ma'am."

I nearly choke on my own food after hearing the subdued tone of his voice. _He sounds almost…scared? Holy shit, someone has finally managed to rein in Sting!_ It took me years to figure out how to keep Sting on a leash, and even then, I can't manage it all of the time. But somehow, this girl has managed to leash Sting like a puppy in almost no time at all. One of these days, I have to learn her secrets.

Sting groans, and Natsu pats him on the back sympathetically. "Sorry, I probably should'a warned ya that it's a bad idea to bet against my sister. She doesn't lose, not even at strip poker."

I raise an eyebrow slightly, glad that I've managed to clear my plate by now. "You guys play strip poker?"

A faint smirk still rests on Ciara's face. "Let's just say that when Erza and Cana throw a party and invite me, Natsu, Gray, Lucy, Gajeel, and Levy…the party games get rather interesting. You haven't played Truth or Dare until you've played it with our gang."

Natsu shivers slightly. "Truth or Dare? Try Mortifying Embarrassment or Near-Death Experience. You come up with the scariest dares ever!"

Gajeel nods in agreement. "Seriously, you chicks and your games. I swear that I'm never getting suckered into another of your party games as long as I live."

"Right. Well, at least Natsu knows how to use the word mortifying." Ciara scoffs and rolls her eyes. "And Gajeel…you say that every time. And yet, all it takes is for Levy to bat her eyes at you, and you cave instantly. What happened to that iron will of yours?"

Gajeel goes silent, his glare trained on Ciara as he shoves the last of his food down his throat. Then, he leans over the side of the couch and grabs a bag, hefting it over a shoulder as he heads for the door. "See you brats later. Try not to burn down the house before you leave."

Two pairs of eyes roll at his back, and it's actually kind of startling to see how alike the twins are, despite the fact that they always seem to be at each other's throats. I mean, I suppose that it's only natural that the two of them would look alike, and share a few of the same habits from growing up together, but it's like their thought patterns are synchronized as well. It's almost eerie.

The though is quickly squashed as Natsu shoves a whole stack of bacon into his mouth, eliminating any resemblance in expression to his sister. I glance at the clock on the wall, and according to the time, we've got about half an hour before school starts. That should be enough time to get there, if the walk here was any indication. But judging by the way that Ciara and Natsu made their entrance yesterday, there might be a few complications that I'm just not aware of yet.

The last of the food disappears quickly, and Ciara starts moving about the room, putting the dishes away by herself. Natsu races off down the hall, only to return seconds later with his backpack slung over his shoulder. "Alright, time to go!"

Picking up my own bag, I blink bemusedly. _Wait…isn't he supposed to be chronically late?_ "Should I be worried about being late?"

Natsu frowns at me slightly as he grabs an apple for the road. "Huh? Why?"

"As long as we avoid the vulcans, the poisonous newts, and the creeping ivy, we'll be fine for time." Ciara emerges from the kitchen, her own bag by her side. "Thankfully, the food actually woke Natsu up this time, which means that he wasn't having a food dream."

With every creature she lists, I feel just a tad more nervous about all of this. This was far from what I was expecting when Skiadrum said that he and Weisslogia had arranged for a place for us to live while attending our new school. Now, we're stuck in a house with four other dragon slayers, one of which is almost a pink-haired copy of Sting, minus all the flirting, one is a shy little girl, another is my old idol, and the last is a very pretty, very smart, and very dangerous girl who essentially runs the whole place.

Swallowing down my hesitation, I dare to ask. "Do you have any shortcuts that don't cut through their territory?"

She smirks mischievously at me. "I thought you'd never ask." She slings her bag over her shoulder and grins. "Welcome to the family." Then, she takes off towards the door, and it bangs open as a gust of wind carries her the last few steps.

I follow behind her as she races out the door, keeping up fairly easily, since I'm pretty sure she's not going anywhere near her top speed. And as she weaves through the trees, leaping from branch to branch, I notice her looking down at me every few seconds, as though making sure that I'm able to keep up.

The ground, however is really rough, and there are rocks and roots sticking out all over the place. _No wonder she's jumping through the trees…it's a mess down here._

It's a split second decision that I definitely don't regret as I leap off the ground and into the lower branches of the trees, slowly working my way higher, until I'm level with her. It takes me a couple of minutes to make up the time I lost in the climbing, but soon, I'm racing along right behind her. "This is your idea of a shortcut?"

"Of course!" She laughs brightly as she reaches her hand up to brush the leafy canopy. "I know these woods inside and out, this is the shortest way to school. I usually have to drag Natsu through this shortcut, since he can't keep up with me on his own."

"And you thought that it was a good idea to leave him back there with Sting?" I know that we haven't all known each other very long, but I'm pretty sure that she's got a better measure of Sting's personality than that.

"Probably not." She shrugs slightly. "But I've been looking for someone to dump Natsu's trek to school on for years. Your friend just happened to be a very convenient person to do that to."

I try to suppress the urge to laugh, and fail as a chuckle rolls off my tongue. "Well, I can't say that he doesn't deserve it, especially after hitting on you so much."

"Pfft, like I could ever take that idiot's flirtation seriously." She shakes her head and smile wryly. "Guys just as attractive have tried and failed. He may have the edge that being a dragon slayer gives him, but he's not really smart enough for me to seriously consider. In hindsight, it's hard to figure out why I considered Gajeel in the first place."

"Because he was strong…" I reply absentmindedly.

"Hm?" She turns to look at me, now jumping backwards through the trees. "You say something?"

I blink quickly, then remember what I said, and look down towards the ground. "Because he was strong. You prefer a strong partner, right?"

"Hm…" She frowns slightly, before her features soften again and she smiles. "Well, I guess that makes sense. Especially since the two of us could have accidentally destroyed the school with the brawl we got into. Not that your friend really put up much of a fight."

"Well, to be fair to Sting, he wasn't exactly trying his hardest." That's pretty true. If Sting had really been putting his all into it, then the little battle they had would probably have exceeded the limits of the barrier around the arena, and left the entire area in ruins. And I'm pretty damn sure that she knows that too.

"True…" She hums a little as she turns back around. "So, can you fight like your friend?"

I bristle a little at the silent insinuation that I wouldn't be a math for her. "I think that if I were to fight, I would not make the same mistakes that Sting did."

"Because hindsight is twenty-twenty, right?" Laughter bubbles through the air again. "Well, then maybe I'll test your mettle one of these days, see if you've got a dragon's fire in your veins."

"A dragon's fire? You do know that I was trained by a shadow dragon, right?" I'm only half serious as I point that out.

"Very funny." She laughs once more. "But yes…perhaps I'll put your skills to the test one of these days as well." She points ahead of us. "Anyway, we're here, the campus is just ahead."

I peer through the trees, and sure enough, there's the school. "Alright, the front doors are that way."

"Who says I'm going through the front doors?" She takes off through the air, the wind carrying her away from me and towards the classroom window.

I sweatdrop slightly. "…I think I'll go in the door."


End file.
